Sunday, September 27, 2009

While I was up in Hudson NY at the Limner Gallery yesterday to pick up a couple of copies of Direct Art Magazine (see post below), Tim Slowinski (artist, gallery owner) was laying out works for next week's show, Strange Figurations. I'm not in the show, probably because I didn't get around to entering anything for it. Anyhow, I wasn't in the gallery very long, but Tim did have several pieces of artwork for the show spread around, some already on the walls & some on the floor propped against the wall.

Here is the postcard announcing the show:

You can click on the image for a better view.

Here is the back of the card:

Again, if you click on the image, you will get a more legible version.

The 2 pieces that were present yesterday that really caught my eye were 2 very small, jewel-like oils on panel by Tim French. Apparently, they caught Slowinski's eye, too, as he put one of them very prominently on the front of the postcard, the 3-eyed smoking dude called "Obey." I was really struck by those 2 pieces, so I thought I'd give a mention to Tim (or Timothy) French. I've seen a few pieces of his work before at Limner, & I really feel that he has something that stands out & his work just seems to get better & better. Here is a link to his web site:

Saturday, September 26, 2009

The drawing is "Future Human", & its actual size is 23.5" x 18" (not as stated in the magazine.) If you click on the image, you should be able to see a more legible version.

Here is the short text I wrote to go with the drawing:

"The Future Human drawing is a dystopian image of a cybernetic future, where we are all so connected to the Internet (or its distant descendent) and machines in general that we have become disconnected from our own humanity. The drawing depicts the moment of realization, where it finally becomes apparent that the evolutionary road we have been blindly following is a dead end. Much of my work is a warning against the folly of human nature, and I hope that I am wrong in this case, or if I am right, someone might see my warning in time. Turn off your computer, disconnect from the system, go for a walk in the park. This has just been a bad dream."

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

As I just had the septic tank pumped out (the truck literally just left), this seemed to be a good time to write about Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music." I've been very fond of Lou for years, since maybe "Transformer" & backtracking beyond that to the Velvet Underground. Like Iggy Pop (though less so), he's a kind of power source or touchstone I can plug into from time to time. Anyway, it seems that back in 1975, Lou released this double album of guitar feedback & noise called Metal Machine Music. I saw it in stores at the time, but was aware of its reputation as a godawful unlistenable artifact allegedly released by Lou to fulfill his contract with his record label. So, over the years, while I'd occasionally wonder about the thing, I never managed to check out its contents. Lovely cover, though:

I swiped that off of some random web site. Let me know if I'm breaking the law here...

So, anyway, today as I was waiting for the truck to finish pumping out around a decade of raw sewage, I was mindlessly surfing on Google & found an interesting blog that had a link to a page with 20 second musical (I use the term loosely, ha ha) samples of Lou's opus...

And the verdict is: not bad. In my capacity as an occasional guitar abuser, I feel I have some minimal authority to proclaim on this. For 20 seconds, the content sounds quite reasonable, especially in the light of popular musical advances since the advent of MMM. I'm thinking Industrial Music & so on. Even stuff at the time or just after (Throbbing Gristle, Einsturzende Neubauten, etc) was not so far away from this. For 20 seconds or so, the textures of whining feedback layered on top of each other (apparently) are almost "pleasing" in some ways. I've heard worse. What it really reminds me of is when sometimes bands, at the end of their set, would leave all of the guitars propped against the amplifiers, still turned on, & a sort of random howling noise would ensue. Then, either the band would come back for an encore, or the roadies would eventually wake up & turn the stuff off. So, now I (& you) know a little of the mysteries of Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music.

And, since the truck is gone & the air is starting to clear, tis time to get back to Shadow Bay, I suppose...

I was just poking around in my hard drive (as you do), when I came across this brush & ink drawing from 2003:

The Devourer, 2003, brush & ink on paper, 25" x 20" approx.

This was a piece that I pretty much had forgotten about, until I saw it again just now. At the time, I guess I didn't think too much of it, but now it strikes me as quite good & worth posting here. It's kind of a combination of Arcimboldo (who made heads etc. out of various objects) & Breughel the Elder, or Bosch. Anyway, here it is.

I've just updated the title in the header of this blog to read "William T. Ayton Art Blog" instead of "Ayton Art Blog." Not a huge difference -- I just did it to be slightly more search-engine friendly. I have no idea if this will work.

Friday, September 18, 2009

The official business card (actually, a teaser promotional device) for Shadow Bay:

The above is scanned in from the original card, which explains why you can see the surface texture if you look closely.

It's a standard-sized business card (about 2" x 3.5".) If anyone would like a card, drop me a line & I'll sign it the back of it & mail it to you. Would also like to remind folks that the noir graphic novel-blog (written by Donald J. Rothschild) is now flagged (by us) as having adult content, in fairness to anyone who might be shocked or disturbed by that kind of thing...

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

This is to announce that Donald J. Rothschild (words) & myself (art) have just published chapter 4 of Shadow Bay, our noir-graphic-novel-blog. We've put an adult content warning on it as things get a bit, er, grown-up in this chapter...

Above: one of the safer, more family-friendly images from the chapter.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The last time Jürgen sent me a postcard announcing an exhibit, it took me weeks to get it up on the blog, by which time the show was over, or almost over. This time, I'm cutting to the chase. Here are the details:

I met Jürgen what seems like two lifetimes ago, but it was only two years, at the Museum on the Seam show, "Bare Life" in Jerusalem. It was a great show & I'm glad to see that Jürgen is still working away & showing his work. If you're reading this & near his studio, please go along & say hi.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Version 2: pencil, china marker & acrylic paint on card. After the acrylic paint, I emphasized the black outlines again in china marker.

It's interesting to see how the gray tones add depth & atmosphere to a piece. Although I liked the earlier version, I think the monochrome tones add a lot. Also interesting to see how the image subtly changes -- lines, details & so on. Personally, I like to see behind the curtain once in a while & get a glimpse of the artist's process. I hope you do, too.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

I thought the piece stood quite well on its own in its unfinished state.

We are going to have to flag the blog as "adult" with this chapter, I think. It's interesting to try & depict lust in a reasonably inoffensive way, not that I mind risking offending people if the situation demands it. When this has had gray tones applied it may be more or less graphic. I'll try & remember to post the finished version here.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

That's an unfinished line drawing that will be painted & detailed in acrylic for a scene in a restaurant. The blog/novel has been on hiatus for a while, due to vacations & other stuff, but it's time to get back to work on that. I hope to be posting the finished chapter fairly soon.

I'm trying a slightly new (for me) system with the artwork in this chapter. Previously, I had done each image one by one, more or less finishing one before moving on to the next. This time, I'm doing fairly loose line drawings first, so that any edits can be ironed out at an early stage, then going back & painting the tones & details in. We'll see how it goes. I'm still at the early drawing stage.

The other good thing about Shadow Bay is that it keeps me out of a rut in that I'm creating images that I wouldn't normally think of, as they're dictated somewhat by Donald's written script. It is a potentially huge project -- around 17 chapters with 10-20 images per chapter (or more.) Do the math. Still, we shall see how it goes.

This is just a note to say that my Ayton Artwork a Day blog is winding up this week (today is day 46.) To celebrate this fact, the prices on the works available this week will be even lower than their usual already low prices. I'm setting prices this week at $50 per item (includes US shipping) or $55 outside the US (includes non-US shipping.)

Above: today's piece.

This could be your last chance to acquire some of my artwork for incredibly favorable prices...

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Jim's landscapes are in the front section, I'm in the back. For me, it was kind of a last-minute thing, as Jim offered me the space that he didn't really have enough pieces to fill. I have 18 artworks in the show, dating from 2006-2009. I have 4 large paintings (from 2006, the oldest works in the show), plus a few new smallish paintings, some ink drawings & silverpoints.

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Old Age and Eternity, 2009, silverpoint drawing on a light green ground on card, 10" x 8".

Guess I must be feeling my age. Actually, I was at the dentist today for a checkup & I have an abcess, so I'm on antibiotics which make me feel like my face was trampled by a horse. A quite small horse, so it's not too bad.

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About Me

I'm a British artist currently resident in upstate New York, where I live in the wondrous Hudson Valley with my wife & children. My work deals with imagination, myth, the human condition & social issues, and the way they intersect & allow us to understand the world. I've exhibited extensively in Europe, the USA, & more recently, Israel. You can see more of my work at www.ayton.net.
Regarding re-using my artwork from this blog (for not-for-profit purposes): in most cases, it's OK. Please credit me as the creator of the image, & if possible link to the page where you found the piece. If the image is used in an inappropriate setting, I will most likely ask you to remove it. Thanks.